Washington U declares war on U of Washington?

The April Fools fun begins a day early this year as students at Washington University in St. Louis have a little fun with Seattle’s own UW. Amy Rolph reports.

You knew about the across-state rivalry between the University of Washington and Washington State — but did you know there’s another university out there that wants to trump Seattle’s hometown school as much as WAZZU does?

Well, there’s not, really. But just for April 1, the students at Washington University in St. Louis are declaring war on the U of W.

The reason? Why, the easily confused names, of course.

“On behalf of the student body, Student Union has declared war on the University of Washington,” said (WU Student Union President) Neil Patel in the story. “We’re tired of being confused with the University of Washington. We’re in St. Louis, dammit.”

The rivalry has been manufactured by the St. Louis university’s student newspaper. And yes, it comes from their April Fools Day edition, meaning it has about the same level of authority as stories published in The Onion.

Still, it’s good for a chuckle or two, as is the poorly altered photo that accompanies the story. (Warning: Don’t look if you’re a fan of puppies or quality image altering.)

According to the story, the faux rivalry escalated to a flaming bag of doggy-poo being left on the WU chancellor’s doorstep. Of course, WU students retaliated by setting fire to the UW’s quad, the story says.

Let this serve as a reminder: Don’t believe everything you hear tomorrow.